Sports Betting – for beginners

The world of sports betting is intriguing to many millions around the world who like to wager on the outcome of football matches, horse races, darts and other events.  If you have made it to this guide, the likelihood is that you are one of these people who are looking for a little guidance on how to become a better bettor.

We will look briefly at some of the key features of sports betting that will hopefully get you in winning ways.

Get Clued up

First and foremost, if you want to be successful at sports betting then it is essential that you read up on the sports you like to bet on.  Check the form of any team involved in the particular bet and investigate such things as player fitness, the team’s records against the opposition, and so on.  Any serious bettor will ensure they have all the angles covered before risking any of their hard earned money.

The Bookie v The Exchange

There are two different types of betting companies that facilitate the placing of orthodox sports bets.  Firstly you have the bookmaker – the traditional bet taker who allows you to gamble on a certain outcome happening.  For example they will set odds on a horse winning a match, a team winning a match, or a player winning Wimbledon. Bookies are considered by many to be a little bit out of touch with the modern sports bettor although they are good at what they do.

On the other hand you have the exchange that is the middleman between two parties who want to bet against each other.  This is the great feature of the exchange as it enables people to bet on something from NOT happening such as Manchester United not winning against Arsenal, etc.  If you bet on an exchange, in most cases you will come across better odds than what you will be offered by a bookmaker.  This is essentially because of the sheer quantity of relatively inexperienced people that agree (match) odds on these sites.

Odds

In betting, odds represent the return you will receive from a successful bet.  The odds a bookmaker offers should not be interpreted as a true representation of the likelihood that your horse will win.  They are simply an opinion and also take into account the bookies’ ‘over round’ which is provided for so they make a profit. 

When looking at a gambling website, you find odds shown in two different ways; using fractions or in the decimal format.  If they are shown as fractions, you will see two numbers separated by a slash i.e. 2/1.  In this example for every pound you bet on something, you stand to win two pounds.  If they were in decimal format they would be shown as 3:0.

Odds Comparison

There is little point in settling for the odds you find on offer from the first bookie you come across.  By checking the market you will find that are some massive discrepancies that can be taken advantage of to win you more money.  The quickest and simplest method for comparing odds is by using a website’s software that can be found by searching on Google.  Some of the most popular are Easyodds.com, Oddschecker.com, and Bestbetting.com.  They will search all of the bookies out there in real time and highlight the best one for your particular bet. 

Betting Types

Within each sporting event there will tend to be a number of different markets that are available for you to be on which will vary depending on the popularity of the sport/event in question.  Horse racing markets are generally quite limited due to the nature of the sport and you are normally constrained to betting on the winner of a race or the order in which the horses will finish.  With football betting and some other popular sports there can be a whole array of markets at the punters disposal.  For example, the larger soccer matches will have such bets available as first goal scorer, total number of corners, correct score line, whether there will be a red card, and so on.